How do you know anything about what is going on inside that hive without looking? You don't.

When did you last see 2 full deeps of bees? How many frames of brood and honey were there?

I proposed an inspection on a colony 'best described by your posts' as being robbed out, (dead, done and empty of any resemblance of its former self).

You have described "robbing that has gone on for over a week" on one hive of bees. My bet remains placed that they are all dead and gone, but unless 'someone' actually looks we'll never know for certain, will we.

Sorry, but looking is part of keeping bees. No room for guesswork or assumptions. Doing so is at at your bees peril and wastes time best spent investigating.

Robbers can include more than just other honeybees, the list include, hornets (yellowjackest), wasps and other bees like bumbles,,,,oh,,,and beekeepers :-D.

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"Trust those who seek the truth, doubt those who say they've found it."

Phill, the only solution I can see for now would be to re-locate your hive to a friend's property. Close them up at night and move them very early in the morning (preferably 2 miles away at the least). Consider it a vacation for your bees. You'll need a truck, some straps, and a friend to help you move 'em... I like the one guy's idea of setting up a dummy hive (if you have any spare hardware) in the location of your current hive--this is if you move them.

Again, relocating that hive seems like the best option at this point. And relocating far away will keep your bees from seeing familiar landmarks and becoming confused. I relocated two of my hives this year to some soy fields on a friend's property and the bees are doing great!

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The bees that do no work do not survive long. The people that do no work get rewarded.

Thanks, TenshiB. That's not something I'm anxious to do, but it may be my only choice.

(BTW the other "Thanks" was not from me. Someone else with a similar problem, I guess.)

During the last week, since I've been taking defensive measures, the robbers have not been getting into my hive-- at least not enough of them to cause major problems. But there's been a real dearth here, and apparently they have nothing else to try. If we start to get even a little bit of a flow, this problem should go away-- for now. I'll hope for that, but meanwhile I'll be looking for a "vacation rental" for the hive.

A happy ending, in case anyone's still paying attention to this thread: The robbing stopped. My hive still looks fairly strong. I don't think the robbers actually accomplished much. But they sure did try.

I'm pretty sure it's been orientation flights but still, I need a whole lot more BeeTV before I'll feel comfortable about it.

It was the same way when I was learning to ID sicknesses, diseases, and other things with my goats several years ago. It seem like anything you see can be tied into two or three possibilities. Time will cure that I'm sure.

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When the law no longer protects you from the corrupt, but protects the corrupt from you - then you know your nation is doomed.